Hey, Weight!

Back from Maine, where it rained--no, actually, it poured--pretty much all day every day. Alone in the woods with my parents and the baby, we basically did nothing but chow down on my mom's awesome cooking and take an occasional rain walk. Now I feel like some large pale thing discovered under a rock, but according to the scale I'm just 4 pounds from a weight that would be acceptable to me--in clothes. Not too bad for 3 months postpartum, but here's the thing: I'm 4 days from leaving town again, this time bound for the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we'll vacation with Aaron's family.

That's right: The Beach. Just looking at my swimsuit makes me want to crawl back under that rock. Did I mention that Aaron comes from a large family comprised mainly of tall, skinny, tan people? They're very nice, but I don't think they're willing to all wear muumuus in solidarity. Ah well. To be honest, I can't really blame the baby, since I always spend the first week of August putting away blueberry pie and lobster rolls, and then I contemplate crash dieting before hitting the beach 2 weeks later.

I'm a big fan of the last minute approach, but I don't apply this to dieting. Every summer I'm reminded that feeling good about your body has a lot to do with what you're doing. As long as I feel active and I'm eating well, I can sit on the beach without a care. And thanks to my still colicky baby I'm always in motion (didn't they promise the irritability and crying would end at 3 months? where's the warranty on this thing?). If I don't make it to mommy-baby yoga, that just means I walk several miles in the park then bounce around the house having a romantic dance party for two during Leo's whiny "happy hour," which is neither happy, nor an hour.

So, 4 days till Beach Day and 4 plus pounds to go? No problem, I'll just put an extra bounce in my bounce, and make sure I keep a tasty salad dressing around (the one below is inspired by my favorite sushi restaurant) along with veggies in the crisper to put it on. I'm not going to feel swimsuitterific in under a week, but I can rebalance my diet away from the frozen dessert end of the food pyramid and feel ready for some fun in the sun. As for Leo? Well I'm just hoping that when we get to the beach the soothing sound of the ocean and the smell of the fresh sea air will make him feel like chilling out under an umbrella. Or maybe colic magically disappears at exactly 3 1/2 months?